Next by Michael Crichton

Author:Michael Crichton [Crichton, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure
ISBN: 9780060872984
Amazon: 0060873167
Goodreads: 7661
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2006-11-28T06:00:00+00:00

Back in 1952, the big news was the escape of the Boyd Gang from the Don Jail in Toronto. It was the second time they’d escaped.

I remembered reading about them when I was in the army. Their leader, Edwin Alonzo Boyd, had been jailed for robbing banks in 1950 and met two of his future gang members, Willie Jackson and Lennie Jackson (who were not related) while doing time in the Don. The three of them broke out of jail with a hacksaw concealed in Lenny’s artificial leg. After adding an ex-musician, Steve Suchan, as their fourth member, the “gang” went on a bank-robbing spree that ended tragically when Suchan shot and killed a policeman. All four were arrested and, by some twist of fate, all four were locked up together in an empty death-row cellblock at the Don Jail. On September 7, 1952, they managed to escape for a second time with the help of another saw blade smuggled in by a lawyer. The following night, the CBC’s first television newscast, anchored by Lorne Greene and produced by Harry Rasky, detailed the escape, and it was pretty riveting stuff.

Lennie Jackson and Steve Suchan were found guilty of murder and were executed in a double hanging at the Don Jail that December. Willie Jackson was sentenced to thirty-one years. Boyd himself was sentenced to eight life terms plus twenty-seven years concurrent in Kingston Penitentiary, but was paroled ten years later. After serving another four years for parole violations, he moved to the West Coast, changed his name, and started a new life.

The Life and Times of Edwin Alonzo Boyd was an ambitious, stylish project – a faux documentary narrated by me as Boyd, whom I also played onscreen. The stellar supporting cast, especially Jean-Marc Amyot, Domenic Tudino, and Jack Langhorn as the other three gang members, were not overly familiar faces, which gave the story that much more credibility. After I wrapped my part in the Boyd Gang saga, I teamed up with director Allan King again to shoot Ready for Slaughter, a fifty-five-minute drama for For the Record. We must have been doing something right again, because Ready for Slaughter took the highly coveted Best TV Drama prize at the Banff Television Festival, and I myself was nominated for two ACTRA Awards that year, one for Boyd and one for Slaughter.

Years later I was in Victoria, staying at the Empress with Charm and Leah, when the concierge called up to say that a man was waiting for me in the lobby. I explained that I was not expecting anyone, and asked if the man had identified himself.

“Yes,” said the concierge, “he says his name is Edwin Alonzo Boyd.”

I could see a glint of mischief in Charm’s eyes. “Bring him up for tea,” she suggested.

I went down to the lobby and greeted him with outstretched arms. “Eddie!” I cried. He hesitated, but only briefly, before shyly returning my embrace.

We had tea with Edwin Alonzo Boyd.

“I’ve got four copies of that film!” he confided, munching on a cookie.

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